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NEW DELHI: While the Enforcement Directorate is still looking for the whereabouts of the former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, the agency has attached assets worth over Rs 4 crore belonging to him and his family members.
The agency has already put on record before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court how Rs 4.18 crore in cash was deposited in shell companies and then routed to Deshmukh’s Nagpur-based trust through hawala dealers.
Deshmukh has been grilled once late last month when the agency officials first conducted searches at his residence and other premises in Mumbai and Nagpur in connection with the alleged extortion and bribery charges.
Transactions related to receipt of bribery have already been mapped by the agency. Though he had denied all charges, a day later Deshmukh’s two close aides were arrested during their questioning. Summons were later issued to Deshmukh to join the probe.
Top sources in ED said, officials are looking for Deshmukh who has neither appeared before the agency in response to several summonses issued to him in the past few weeks nor has been taking the phone calls. “He has provided all necessary conditions for his detention in a money laundering case,” said a senior official.
The probe is also being carried out against Deshmukh’s son, Hrishikesh, and his wife who have been summoned by the agency for questioning but have not appeared so far.
According to ED, the alleged illegal cash received from dance bars were first deposited in shell companies, and to camouflage the source of funds, it was then rotated in multiple fictitious entities before cheques were issued to Deshmukhs’ Nagpur trust as donations and loans.
The ED has also recorded statements of suspended sub inspector Sachin Waze in prison who has allegedly confessed to having collected “Rs 4.7 crore from various bars and handed over to Kundan Shinde on the instruction of Anil Deshmukh”. Shinde is Deshmukh’s personal assistant. The latest installments of the alleged bribes were delivered as late as January-February this year, according to the ED probe.
Besides Deshmukh and other accused in the case, including sub inspector Waze, the agency will also record statements of Param Bir Singh, the former Mumbai police commissioner who had alleged the ex-home minister had set an extortion target for the police to the tune of Rs 100 crore to be collected from dance bars.
The agency has already put on record before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court how Rs 4.18 crore in cash was deposited in shell companies and then routed to Deshmukh’s Nagpur-based trust through hawala dealers.
Deshmukh has been grilled once late last month when the agency officials first conducted searches at his residence and other premises in Mumbai and Nagpur in connection with the alleged extortion and bribery charges.
Transactions related to receipt of bribery have already been mapped by the agency. Though he had denied all charges, a day later Deshmukh’s two close aides were arrested during their questioning. Summons were later issued to Deshmukh to join the probe.
Top sources in ED said, officials are looking for Deshmukh who has neither appeared before the agency in response to several summonses issued to him in the past few weeks nor has been taking the phone calls. “He has provided all necessary conditions for his detention in a money laundering case,” said a senior official.
The probe is also being carried out against Deshmukh’s son, Hrishikesh, and his wife who have been summoned by the agency for questioning but have not appeared so far.
According to ED, the alleged illegal cash received from dance bars were first deposited in shell companies, and to camouflage the source of funds, it was then rotated in multiple fictitious entities before cheques were issued to Deshmukhs’ Nagpur trust as donations and loans.
The ED has also recorded statements of suspended sub inspector Sachin Waze in prison who has allegedly confessed to having collected “Rs 4.7 crore from various bars and handed over to Kundan Shinde on the instruction of Anil Deshmukh”. Shinde is Deshmukh’s personal assistant. The latest installments of the alleged bribes were delivered as late as January-February this year, according to the ED probe.
Besides Deshmukh and other accused in the case, including sub inspector Waze, the agency will also record statements of Param Bir Singh, the former Mumbai police commissioner who had alleged the ex-home minister had set an extortion target for the police to the tune of Rs 100 crore to be collected from dance bars.
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